today on larry king live now to j.f.k. his legacy what people will learn from the band who was assassinated fifty years ago today many people of my generation are only familiar with the history class version of j.f.k. maybe you know the peace corps or the missile crisis or of course the tragedy of the assassination like j.f.k. is the only man who has an eternal flame above his grave and i think that that's not mere symbolism it's trying to be instructive so that means young people need to take up this torch and be leaders participate and ultimately get into politics even will we ever know who killed camelot there are a lot of researchers who have gone before me and said well it was the cia it was the mob it was as jackie kennedy believed texas oil they're all correct but what do all those entities have in common lyndon baines johnson i don't think l.b.j. did it i know you did it's all ahead on larry king now.

welcome to a special edition of larry king now fifty years ago the course of american history was altered forever when president john f. kennedy was assassinated in dallas texas today jay of kay's iconic legacy still lives on across the globe here to discuss why that legacy is particularly important for younger americans is scott de rice author of the new book titled the power of citizenship why the john f. kennedy matters to a new generation i met by the way to personal moron the john kennedy one. i was twenty four years old driving in a car with three friends in palm beach looking at the sites his car from behind oh my gosh he was parked he died of a cause that how could you hit me on this week and said you want to change license

this is no just raise your hands from as the vote for me. then we get to robert kennedy and ted of course very well you're only thirty four what prompted you to write your producing your journey what prompted you to write this book well i think for some time now our country has moved away in some sense from the message of ask not what your country can do for you ask what you can do for your country and the first time i heard this clip as a teenager i was inspired i felt that there was something magical about these words and about this president and i believe that he offers us a road map for how we can bring our country back on track and so i wrote this book and you're as the key message is what do you wear us to young people to do well first it's to become familiar with this story many people of my generation are only familiar with the history class version of j.f.k. maybe they know the peace corps or the missile crisis or of course the tragedy of the assassination but i think it's important to dig much deeper than that he advanced is this vibrant model of citizenship how each of us can be good citizens

and do good deeds and participate in community advancement and i think that that is a message that is absent from our discourse today and something we very much need when you make the discourse while i think it's it's of course very partisan we've been divided for some time it's ridiculous and i think the people of my generation are extremely frustrated we feel that leaders are not listening to us we feel that they're not embracing elementary concepts like teamwork and things that we teach in kindergarten class and people feel that there's there's nobody who is really embracing what this what this new generation needs in terms of the great challenges our country faces didn't include them by the able to you some of it and certainly he advanced america which is sort of the domestic version of kennedy's version of the peace corps but i think that we're past that era now and i was a kid when clinton was president and certainly remember the impeachment hearings but for people who are born millennial who were born in one thousand nine hundred eighty nine or later those were those were too early for us and now we've been living in this era for far too long where everything is about he said she said

pointing the finger of blame and not. any progress is easy to get discouraged you think is going to change well it took us a long time to get into this mess and we would all love to wave a magic wand and be out of the mess but i think it will take some time the way we do it if i can draw a baseball analogy i know you're a big brooklyn dodger fan the way baseball teams get better is by making good draft picks and training up a good farm system and so i think what we need to do is embrace what kennedy said in his inaugural address when he said the torch has been passed to a new generation of americans and so that means young people need to take up this torch and be leaders participate and ultimately get into politics even to those who say the best of us does not run for public office the best goes into private or goes into law those are the areas but they don't want to. sling news in arrows well i think a lot has changed culturally in institutionally in our country for some time now we have been able to use the internet and forms of technology to effect change without

being involved in the political process i think there is a feeling a general hesitation to get into politics because of the way it's viewed by so many people it's dirty it's all this all this money and people who are not doing the right thing i mean think about where we are in society today when we say someone's going to be a politician it's a dirty work right people don't want to do that who would want that that kind of label for themselves when they could be a titan of industry when somebody could be effecting change in the community by being a member of the clergy or a teacher or getting involved in law as obama disappointed you. i think he's had great challenges i think that the country has certainly the enthusiasm that was felt in two thousand and eight has dissipated in in a big way and most recently we've seen the shutdown and the health care website rollout problems so i wouldn't say he's disappointed but i do think that it's time for our president and leaders generally in washington and elsewhere to be trying to inspire young people increasing the level of pride that we feel in this country

because we need to feel pride as citizens to do good deeds always kennedy taught when you were going to school. they highlight some of the some of the major points i think the assassination of course is very much highlighted we talk about some of the major things civil rights took off and he defined it as a moral crisis but he didn't johnson that's correct kennedy had proposed civil rights legislation before he passed away and then johnson of course was the one who passed over rights in the voting rights act but even the senate leader of the republicans dirksen and halak in the house had said it was kennedy's bill it was going to pass but at the point your question about what how it's taught today i think it's taught in ways that are not necessarily as productive as it can be i think in terms of educational curricula generally we have moved away from this even the course civics and citizenship and kennedy talks about public service he talks about people getting involved he is these big dreams these big goals are going to land a man on the moon we're going to be pioneers in this search for a new frontier and that is that is the message in the spirit that i think needs to

be emphasized and kennedy of course was a student of the ancient greeks he understood that to be a citizen and meant to participate to be involved in public affairs and so i think we need to be emphasizing that more as his whole family proves absolutely gold to believe they've given to you see anyone on the horizon sometimes we need a person to leave because of a new concept new frontier if you want to call it you see one it's very tough i sometimes wonder because i'm having research kennedy i read the book profiles in courage a couple of times and i don't mean this rhetorical but. i sometimes wonder who would be in that book today if it were to be written in a whole and it's very challenging at think you know some time ago about a year ago we had hurricane sandy and this is an example i think of the kinds of acts that we ought to be holding up when president obama came to the metropolitan area came to new jersey and he was catching a lot of flak you can raise the profile of christie in christie's embracing him and he's getting the flak for going to hand the election to obama well that's something that we should be celebrating more that's that's an act where people look past

partisan labels and i think we need to be the media i think should be holding up more stories like that but when you talk about the most be a mindset what is that well it's young people today feeling this sense that they are not part of the system and a general dissatisfaction with where we are a country of course is facing great challenges economic and otherwise and we have concerns about what the country's going to look like five ten and fifty years from now most kids of thirteen and fourteen i guess they take civics i don't think they know a lot about government yeah i mean it's i mean i think seniors as kids with big name know who their congressman is right that that's disappointing that's something that i think we need to change and it's said going to involve them through the spirity theory that gives is going right while it's very sensationalized there are there are dozens of theories saying it was the cubans it was the cia was the mafia as it was johnson and so forth to me i think that it's always interesting to see some of

those ideas but the more important question is how do we take this legacy and use it constructively fifty years later especially for people like me and your children who haven't had a chance to experience this firsthand jeff greenfield has a new book based on the premise of what if he was killed what if he wasn't killed when you think kennedy who had not accomplished a great deal in just three short years where you think of the gun and goldwater told me kennedy would a woman sixty four was obviously was very popular when you think you've accomplished. it's a tough question how obviously we don't know but i do believe that civil rights would have happened i don't know the exact pace of how long it would have taken but i think it absolutely would have happened he had decided to risk his presidency at that point and in fact one of the reasons he went to texas in dallas in november one thousand sixty three was to repair the rift in the democratic party in order over civil rights it invites important questions about vietnam kennedy basically i think had evolved as a statesman from the time of the failure of the bay of pigs to his successful

handling of the missile crisis eighteen months later and i'm not convinced that he had the stomach for that war i can see jack kennedy sending half a million american troops overseas. that's my feeling too and you know i've interviewed some people ministration i've done some research at the j.f.k. library and the indications were that he just wasn't comfortable with the idea he had developed this very deep distrust for the military apparatus in the in the cuban crises that i mentioned and i just i don't see him taking that hawkish advice distrust of the cia do notice you get a quote here from joe kennedy he says delivers a message of service and citizenship that is essential to the as it was when president kennedy first this what we could do for our country are you close with the good of the family now in fact i was a futile friend introduced as i was fortunate to spend some time in time spent kennedy is a wonderful person and he was very generous in giving me that blurb and we had we sat down and discussed some of these ideas and what president kennedy stands for and his legacy today and i think it's clearly one of of service and getting people

to feel involved feeling inspired and i think that's in part why this legacy resonates so deeply fifty years later it's not only for the people who lived through the period it's because when kennedy was president we felt young as a nation we felt that we were on the cusp of better times not only were we doing the peace corps we were going to go to the moon to protect our civil rights promote the arts and culture all these wonderful things that are part of the american civil religion and so i think when people reach back in time there is this feeling that we were heading in a good direction and that the tragedy of course keeps us coming back thinking what would have happened. in. do you think the kennedys are ever going to be at peace with that. the whole family has given so much to look about families you talk about citizenship and service the level of sacrifice is incredible and i think it's a testament to their commitment to these ideals that they still get involved in public life whether it's in politics or otherwise and i think that in minor standing of how they've talked about the upcoming anniversary i think that it's a question about more in line with this book how can we take these values and make

them a part of american culture today given that our politicians are not and i think that when we look back in time we've had other great presidents to like j.f.k. is the only man who has an eternal flame above his grave and i think that that's not mere symbolism it's trying to be instructive to tell future generations that these are the values that should guide us in the years to come speaking of service where you can stay a lawyer you go to work for over or you going to do well i've been fortunate to have a chance to do a lot of pro bono work in my legal way in my legal practice and i serve on the boards of a number of charitable organizations and i'm not sure yet i think it's important to be talking about this message and trying to spread it especially to young people who look at me like you want to run for the. good deal of servers you look like you're on your way to and running for something you will be the new york i feel that politics is still adventurous pursuit and kennedy felt that way and government is clearly a great vehicle to affect change i'm not sure yet i think that it's something that

is attractive but it's such a big mess right now and as i mentioned earlier there are other ways to affect change so it's something i consider do you see any hope for twenty sixty. not not quite in the national discourse it's more of a longer term view when there's been kennedy had a longer term view he was not focused on what's going to happen one month from now or one year from now sure he looked at polls but it was the five years twenty years and longer term i am optimistic because when i speak to young people today i do see that there is a very strong inclination to serve and to give back and to be part of something bigger than themselves that citizenship and i think that as these people come to positions of leadership and power that they will move past the old tapes and rivalries and be able to look past party labels and really see progress the way our country needs it nowadays it seems that young people are less inclined perhaps to be on the board of an organization but if you give them a specific service project they are incredibly enthusiastic and they want to do it and they and they repeat it and there are of course so many worthy organizations i think it's a question of matching people up with these opportunities and emphasizing the

values in the classroom and elsewhere believe me to use got you know the men whose future thank you and just to read the book the power of citizenship why john f. kennedy matters to a new generation our guests is when scott writes when we were turned we will explore in more detail what happened on that terrible day and alice will meet the veteran political insider roger stone stay with us. i will. technology innovations all the developments from around. this huge you're covered. the the pledge it was terrible to say the i'm very hard to make i don't let you get along here the club has never had sex with the earthquake there are no plans let's play.

lists and le may. live. this is star of day joining us now is roger stone known i'm a long time political consultant strategist lobbyist he's worked as an aide to presidents nixon and reagan as well as senator bob dole friend rogers just released a new book it's the man who killed kennedy the case against l.b.j.

where he indicts the former president as the mastermind behind the assassination of kennedy what got you started on this trail thank hundred sixty four larry i was a pre-teen volunteer in the goldwater campaign i read a book called the texan looks at lyndon by have it's haley and it just blew my mind johnson had a long career of criminality murder epic corruption corruption of biblical proportions and he was very early tied to at least eight murders in texas prior to j.f.k. it also was a kind of a personality portrait of johnson johnson was an abusive loud mouth bully he was a crude vulgar i think manic depressive he was a mean guy on the other side he got a lot of things done no question he was ruthless he was greedy he was very ambitious to be president but in no better doesn't make them to kill him no it doesn't and i provide more this efficient evidence but first i think you do need to

understand the capacity of the man's character were able i would make the case to you that november one thousand nine hundred sixty three he's a man staring into the abyss he knows that the bobby baker hearings are opening in the senate and that baker is his right hand man secretary of the senate is bagman he knows that the department of justice under attorney general robert kennedy who you knew well is investigating him in the belief as to scandal. kennedy has handed over a dot ca to time life and henry luce has nine full time investigators on the ground in texas digging into o.b.j. for a december first issue so he's not just looking at being dumped from the ticket although j.f.k. tells evelyn. lincoln on the eve of leaving for doubtless that johnson will not be on the sixty four ticket but he's looking at prosecution and jail and he's a very proud and very ambitious man so his choices are clear become president or or complete ruins disease set up this plot you say that lee harvey oswald was not in the texas book depository why when i think i was in the bill that he was no he in

the building but i think he's on the second floor i am not alleging that johnson in any way does this alone i think that he works on johnson was in those sections are right which is it's interesting because before the first bullet is shut johnson hits the deck we have photographic evidence that shows that dot johnson is on the floor of his car huddled around a walkie talkie before the first shot is fired then his secret service agent later lies to the warren commission tells the warren commission to push johnson to the floor after he heard the first shot after johnson's death that agent recants and said well i said that because johnson told me to but lee harvey oswald told the police officer who arrested him in the movie theater and because i interviewed the officer i am not a patsy right patsy is not saying i didn't do it well saying i'm going to said what is pat's but he also says i didn't shoot anybody they reporter shows did you shoot the president of the united states he yells out no sir i did not vest voice stress

analysis of technology didn't exist in one thousand nine hundred sixty three tells us that every time i was one said he didn't shoot anybody every time he says that he that he has done nothing but take a pistol into theater he's telling the truth i think as well does it all got the rifle to depository wow. i'm not we're not sure about that no one saw a rifle we saw a bag of undetermined length under his arm which he claims were curtain rods i'm uncertain about that but i do think this there's no way to be on the sixth floor and also be on the second floor ninety seconds later when he was not seen on the staircase but more importantly malcolm wallace who works for lyndon johnson has left a thirty four point match been. in the sniper's nest you think he did i think he did it and i think six witnesses go to the warren commission say they saw him or a man who made mat is description heavy set balding glasses in the window of the texas school book depository in the minutes just before the shooting that testimony is disregarded and one witness richard carr who says he not only saw wallace in the

window but saw him flee there are four attempts on his life between then and one thousand nine hundred others involved knew jim garrison the district attorney who believed it was of conspiracy and i never heard the name wallace where did this come from while this was a long time convicted murderer had been on the johnson payroll worked at the u.s. agriculture department at a picture johnson i believe that it is wallace who is the murderer for example of henry wallace the agriculture agent who was investigating the johnson billie sol estis investigation in the one commission report he was never questioned by the warren commission and they disregarded eyewitness testimony that places while this . place because of the sixth floor because wallace was a convicted murderer his fingerprint file was available and it matches a print other than oswald's prints why would the distinguished commission and you could tell me that earl warren was not a patriot or senator russell or gerald ford i would then because because lyndon

johnson lies to every want to look at all warren's memoirs he says chief i want to tell you the truth it was done by the russians we must cover this up because it means armageddon it means world war three millions will die so do it for your country that's why i think richard russell says on the day of the signing he says to johnson on the phone i don't believe a word of it johnson says either do why these learned men were conned by johnson and think that they were covering up a russian cuban conspiracy and there's no evidence that how do you think he set it up i mean what's your are but give me a modus here veterans happens sure first of all i think he doesn't do it alone he is the he is the chief appropriator. for the cia he has long connections to the mob and he's the water boy for texas oil johnson sits on the committee that forms the cia johnson talks the black box budgets into his aerospace budgets to senate majority leader so he has funded the cia he is very close to the intelligence community likewise johnson's taking fifty five thousand dollars a month bribe from carlos marcello to protect his texas gambling interests illegal

gambling things he says the cia to do as i think he has a relationship with all these other entities have their own motive the cia's upset about the bay of pigs they're upset about the cuban missile crisis they're upset about kennedy's back channel outreach to cuba the mob is upset because they've been double crossed they get a million dollars you are right it is slowing investigated to find out all the people on top of this the years of searching looking. told me nothing of this of a comes out what has come out there's at least three other works that i have built on there are a lot of researchers who have gone before me and said well it was the cia it was the mob it was as jackie kennedy believed texas oil they're all correct but what do all those entities have in common lyndon baines johnson who's motive is greater than any and they all have their own motive but his motor motive is greater and he has a unique relationship with each of them. was oswald involved at all in your opinion

i think that he is maneuvered into place by the cia first of all the it's the term that's yes the first one of the intelligence community lies to the warren commission both the f.b.i. in the cia have previous knowledge of oz wald and ruby for that matter that they deny we now know on the basis of the testimony from cia officials like victor marsh the robert plumlee and others that oswald was part of a defector program that he worked for the agency explains why when he returned from russia he gets this is shipped back immediately without ever asking for it and we pay is is airline fare we the taxpayers in they give him a five thousand dollars. he's clearly got ties to the intelligence community when he's arrested new orleans for handing out pro castro flyers and he has one phone call does he calls wife does he call his lawyer no he calls the head of the f.b.i. in new orleans and an hour later he's out of jail and you conspiracy buff not at all i don't believe that that flying saucers that landed in roswell with the attack

on america was in one i'm a political realist i i did a national presidential campaigns i spent substantial time with some of the politicians of our day some tough guys i'm i think this book is kind of. works in all in other words i'm rough on republicans in democrats i don't mind the kennedys l.b.j. nixon or how does it make you feel about your country about the system of government what if i believe or do you believe i just read the book i go out of my mind well i think that it would let you drive me nuts i think that's the lesson here in other words no one is going to try lyndon johnson posthumously for murder but i do think that if younger people read this book and they get the idea that the government doesn't always tell you the truth you should regard what the government tells you whether it's about benghazi or health care or anything else with a certain level of skepticism that i think i've achieved something in other words

in one thousand nine hundred sixty three as you know larry with only three television networks you have a you have an information monopoly after the vietnam war after the watergate i think for the first time the american people begin to doubt whether the government always tells us the truth that's why seventy some percent of the people tell us they don't believe the warren commission even today gallup u.p.i. poll and other than that because it's so hard to believe that one single loner. with a rifle goes up and kills the president it lacks credibility completely someone kills him right because they wanted a bad fiction right because they wanted a dead read not a talking head mean the fact that he is immediately murdered before he could go to trial and the american people could find out what really happened here makes this all the more disturbing but in one thousand nine hundred sixty three the american people just accept the government's version and i think good men like girl warren go along with the cover up because they think they're covering up an international conspiracy. robert kennedy sends an emissary to the russians he gives him

a three part message one we know this was a domestic conspiracy that killed my brother too there's a reason why it happened in dallas that's lyndon johnson and three the elevation of johnson is a grevious problem for the peace process so. i don't think i think the kennedys knew it was johnson evelyn lincoln john kennedy secretary knows this it's johnson. howard hunt says it on his deathbed that it's johnson jack ruby when he's being dragged down the hall they say jack how could this happen this never would have happened if i'd lie stevenson had been vice president he says jack what do you mean look at the man at the top the man who's in there now he's referring to lyndon johnson or do you think ruby killed the play any part in a story sure i think ruby silences as well ruby weren't commission tells us ruby has in gaza. now i think oswald is a patsy and we don't want him to discuss that he works for the cia then he has an intelligence background i think they want to quiet him very quickly. the warren

commission tells us ruby has no known connection to organized crime that's an absurd he's a button man for carlos marcello he runs his club at the sufferance of the mob he's one guns to cuba for marcello he's clearly a low level mob guy and his contacts are the dallas police department because the off duty police officers drink and cold war and play with women at history club you think roger will ever find it all out now i think it's unlikely because there's this lee there is a both a mainstream media. thing going on where we're only going to bolster the results of the warren commission and then there are other people out there who have some scholarship who have a different theory but i must tell you i don't think l.b.j. did it i know he did it the time or two you have fifty years very hard but it couldn't happen today because instead of just having the ones that put your film you'd have dozens of cell phone camera videos and photos of the crime to be much

tougher for anyone to cover up and manipulate the evidence and then in addition to the three networks today we have cable we have shows like this one we have the internet it from ation flows faster flows wider i think it makes coverup almost impossible can we do read roger i thank you very much for coming i thank you for having me thanks to my guest roger stone check out the book the man who killed kennedy the case against l.b.j. also thanks to my earlier guest scott rush on his book the power of citizenship why john f. kennedy matters to a new generation that's out now to remember you can find me on twitter at kings things see you next time.

how is the new alert animation scared me a little bit. there is breaking news tonight and we are continuing to follow the breaking news. alexander's family cry tears and so well i. think. that had he had read or had a court of law on the phone to online there's a story made for the movies playing out in real life.

a. yo yo yo people's welcome to breaking the set on abby martin so turns out all those people that are cannot off the streets of their cities and black bag by the cia before they were subsequently tortured just aren't allowed in and go yes to guantanamo detainees dollar he-man the sherry and i. are no so in the polish government for helping carry out the cia's rendition program during this time the men were taken to secret prisons in poland and subjected to horrific abuse by interrogators the corner the guardian amrit singh of the open just society justice initiative excuse me who represented nashiri so that his client been repeatedly tortured incurred everything from name.